Is there a better time to buy a new car?

There are lots of tips and tricks for when to buy. It doesn’t just come down to when you need a new car, there are better times in the financial and calendar year.

What are these times? When should people buy?

End of model and end of financial year are the big ones everyone knows about. It’s the one where all the big sales come out. Salesmen are just like the rest of us, they have to meet their targets and do their reporting for the EOFY.

Are there any other times people should look out for?

It’s also worth keeping an eye out for some American brands as their end of financial year in a business sense is Christmas. They won’t market it as such, but you can get some good deals around the last few months of the year. Another thing to look out for is shipping stoppages. It takes a very long time to get a car into Australia and you usually end up with a glut of product towards the end of the year.

Is there a better time to go into a dealership?

Mondays are actually really good as you can get some proper time with a sales guy. Go in near the end of day on a Monday and you can cut the process down a little bit. None of us really want to sit with salesmen for two to three hours and if you go at the end of the day he will try to close the deal off quickly as he wants to go home. Make sure you do give yourself enough time to close the deal, however.

Most people visit car dealerships on a weekend – is that a good plan?

Weekends are generally pretty terrible as the salesmen just wants to move you out of the way or wants you to come back so it’s not a good time to try and do a deal.

If you would like to hear more about the right time to purchase a vehicle and how advertisers influence our car buying decisions listen to the latest podcast. RACQ releases a new podcast each month, with mini-episodes in the weeks in between.